Story by Roderick Mashingaidze
CALLS have intensified for the establishment of a dedicated programme to identify, exhume, repatriate and rebury liberation fighters buried in unmarked graves within and outside Zimbabwe.
The appeal was made during a visit to the Mutumba Six shrine in Mutasa South by members of the security services attending a Civil-Military Relations and Civic Education Seminar in Mutare on Sunday, ahead of next month’s Heroes and Defence Forces commemorations.
The Mutumba Six mine shaft gained national attention in 2013 after a miner discovered human remains and firearms while working on a mining claim. Further investigations led to the recovery of the remains of 76 liberation fighters who had reportedly been tortured, executed and dumped in the shaft by Rhodesian forces.
The site has since been declared a shrine, with stakeholders calling for all fallen liberation fighters in unmarked graves to be accorded dignified burials.
Chairperson of the Manicaland Fallen Heroes Identification, Verification, Exhumation and Reburial Association, Cde Gift Kagweda, said many liberation fighters lost their lives before crossing into neighbouring countries to join the armed struggle.
“They were all captured in Manicaland before crossing. They were caught in an ambush and all massacred and thrown in a mine shaft at Chiwere… We exhumed remains for three hundred bodies. They were stuffed in body bags in fives and threes. An attempt to destroy the remains with acid failed,” he said.
Senator Chief Mutasa said liberation fighters who died both inside and outside Zimbabwe deserve equal recognition and a dignified burial.
“These people died for this country whether inside or outside the country deserve to be accorded due respect; the respect must be equal just as that given to the surviving heroes because they all aspired and wished for the country to be independent,” he said.
The visit renewed calls to preserve the history of the liberation struggle while ensuring those who made the ultimate sacrifice for Zimbabwe’s independence are identified, honoured and laid to rest with dignity.
